Achillobator uh-kihluh-BAYTƆR
"Achilles hero"
- Length
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (96–89 Mya)
- Place
- Mongolia · Utah, USA
- Food
- Carnivore
- Clade
- Dromaeosauridae Dinosauria Saurischia Theropoda Coelurosauria Sickle-clawed raptors: Velociraptor, Deinonychus, Utahraptor.
Achillobator ( ; meaning “Achilles hero”) is a genus of large dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period about 96 million to 89 million years ago in what is now the Bayan Shireh Formation of Mongolia. The genus is currently monotypic, only including the type species A. giganticus. The first remains were found in 1989 during a Mongolian-Russian field expedition and later described in 1999. Remains at the type locality of Achillobator may represent additional specimens. It represents the first and largest dromaeosaurid known from the Bayan Shireh Formation.
It was a large, heavily-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore that would have been an active feathered predator hunting with the enlarged sickle claw on each second toe.
What we know
- Named by Perle et al. 1999.
- Body length estimated at about 5 m.
- Fossils found in Mongolia and Utah, USA.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Achillobator — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.